2.1 The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computing, and, more particularly, to computer operating system architecture. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to software, methods and systems that provide access to computer system resources for device drivers. The invention has applications in the fields of electronics and computer science.
2.2 Background
A device driver is software used to enable the exchange of data between a computer system (or "platform") and a peripheral device that is coupled with the computer system. Usually, the peripheral device functions to provide data input and/or output ("I/O") to the computer system. Examples of peripheral devices include keyboards, printers, scanners, network interface and graphics cards, modems, and monitors. In general, device drivers process data being to be sent to or retrieved from the peripheral device by the computer system so that the data is transferred in a format suitable for processing by the peripheral device or computer system.
The intimate association between the device driver and the hardware and software of the both the peripheral device and computer system to which the device is couple has required that device drivers be written in a highly platform-dependent manner. For example, device drivers generally must obtain memory space when called to perform their function. Typically, this requires the allocation of memory space that must be described by the driver. The driver must therefore have specific knowledge about the platform in order to make such a request. Thus, the same peripheral device, e.g., a printer, will require different version of device (printer) driver software for each platform.
The platform dependence of driver software thus increases the costs of developing platforms and peripherals, as manufactures of peripherals and computer operating systems must provide new versions and updates of driver software for new peripherals, new software platforms, and new operating system releases. Platform-dependent driver technology also increases the cost of maintaining computer systems, especially diverse computer systems deployed over networks, as system managers must obtain and install new and updated device drivers to enable user access to peripheral devices.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide device drivers that are platform-independent, i.e., drivers that do not require information about specific platforms as a prerequisite to operation. Such platform-independent device drivers would be capable of running on any platform, thus greatly reducing the costs and frustrations associated with device driver management.